Africa

1 February 2013: The UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) has released a report titled "Putting REDD+ Safeguards and Safeguard Information Systems Into Practice," which highlights policy considerations related to country-level safeguard systems in line with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Cancun Agreement.

January 2012: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP)/GRID-Arendal Marine Programme has released the January issue of its newsletter (Marine Newsletter #1), featuring articles on: the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded demonstration project on the incorporation of carbon and other ecosystem services values into financial markets; the release of the State of the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Environment Report; and the launch of the World Ocean Assessment website.

The Global Water Partnership – Southern Africa (GWP-SA) will be hosting this 4th Water, Climate and Development Programme for Africa (WACDEP) Technical Coordination Workshop in Pretoria, South Africa. The workshop aims at strengthening the exchange of lessons, knowledge sharing and technical coordination of WACDEP implementation among the GWP regions. Expected participants include GWP partners from all participating regions and key stakeholders from the water and climate change sector, namely the African Minsters' Council on Water (AMCOW), ministries, development banks and NGOs. The WACDEP programme is an initiative of AMCOW and involves the major African organizations with competencies in water.

31 January 2013: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has released a “Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action Study on Sustainable Charcoal in Uganda,” identifying major opportunities in the charcoal sector to prevent carbon emissions and foster sustainable development in least developed countries.

29 January 2013: The inception workshop of the Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP) in Burkina Faso took place on 14 December 2013, in Ouagadougou, and validated a study carried out by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) office in Burkina Faso that finds that climate change will have a strong impact on the country's water security and negatively impact most economic sectors.

16 January 2013: The African Development Bank (AfDB) has released a summary of a panel discussion it hosted among representatives from government, international financial institutions, and the private sector on private sector investment in the operations of the Climate Investment Partnership (CIP).

The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) is organizing a five-day Training Workshop on Iterative Risk Management (IRM) for Climate Change Adaptation. The training aims to build the capacity of participants to design and implement iterative and flexible risk management plans. The training includes two parts: three days of lectures and discussions; and a two-day planning workshop. The lectures include a module each on: risk-based approaches to climate change adaptation; the IRM approach, including the IRM process and its application to development and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and IRM and the policy environment for climate change adaptation. During the planning workshop, participants will design IRM Plans for their organization. RIMES development partners include the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

28 January 2013: The 20th session of the African Union (AU) Summit met from 21-28 January 2013, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the theme of “Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.” Heads of State from 37 countries discussed a range of issues, including peace and security, maternal health, poverty, malaria, climate change, and the post-2015 development agenda.